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The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset
Starring: Eric Idle, Carol Cleveland, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman Director: Terry Hughes, Ian MacNaughton Average Rating: 
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| Customer Reviews 1-5 of 126 | NEXT >> |
2008-10-03First, let me say that when I returned the first set of Monty Python disks because some disks would not play, Amazon made it easy for me to return them, and promptly sent me a replacement set.
But the second set was worse, with more defective disks. I'll find replacements for the bad disks myself, since there is no reasonable expectation of the third set being any better.
This review is being offered in early October. If you want to get this set I would wait. Maybe it is just a bad run. If you do purchase them, check disk 10. It was bad in both sets.
2008-10-03The price is fine, Import duty costs about ?6 and worst of all post office charge you ?8 = ?14 extra to import, It's a Disgrace
2008-09-04The station was WLVI TV Channel 56 in Cambrige, Mass. I agree. Benny Hill was much more of a veteran, comic pro than any of the Pythons were. On other points the Pythons here cannot sing or dance well (some of their skits call for them to do one or the other or both) and their humour is very often juvenile! The sixth-rate dancing and singing skits really show the Pythons up as being way less talented than their fans often very wrongly think they are/were!
2008-07-18I must confess, I've been a Python fan since the early Seventies. When I was in High School, memorizing their sketches was a rite of passage. So when A&E released the 16-Ton Megaset, it was a gift from the gods. And I am so happy that the list price has come down to a level at which every Pythonist can afford to add this most essesital DVD box to their library.
Every episode of the orginal BBC series is here on the first 14 discs. The show was shot on film and on videotape, so there is a certain amount of roughness to the editing, which was present from the beggining and adds to the charm of the series. Yes, there are slight omisions here and there, but so few as to be almost unnoticable to all but the most rabid Python fan. 99.9% of the material is here. Also on each disc are bits of trivia, biographies of the troupe, "Pythonisms", Terry Gilliam's animation broken down and with trivia, live material from the last two DVDs, and more.
On DVD 15 is "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" from 06/25/82, at which the troupe was greeted like Rock Stars, and "Live At Aspen" from 1998, a retrospective tribute at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, hosted by Robert Klein. There are bonuses on this disc as well. On DVD 16 is "Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years Of Monty Python", a nearly two-hour retrospective hosted by Steve Martin (and the last appearence with Python of the late Dr. Graham Chapman) and "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", the legendary special the troupe made for German television. Also, more bonus material such as Post-Python highlights, a section called "Bleeding criticists", and "Confusing Musings" (I won't explain. . . just enjoy!).
A&E has repackaged this set in slimline cases, so the 16-DVD set will fit nicely on your bookshelf.
Start to finish, this is an essesital set for any fan of Brittish comedy. The import and influence of the Python troupe is incalculable, so sit back with a glass of Australian wine, a fresh box of Whizzo Crunchy Frog, and laugh your head off. These chaps were, and are, briliant.
2008-07-17The 1st thing that hit me when watching these episodes again was how ahead of the curve the comedy troupe was. I came accross this show as a pre-teen via syndication on local TV. The very "Brittish humor" ingrained itself in my psyche and has had a hugh influence.
"IT'S" all great stuff!! Episodes are inteligent, silly, surreal and thought provoking. The Pythons string seemingly random sketches together briliantly and make it all work as a whole more often than not.
If you're unfamiliar with Monty Python or just want to reaquaint yourself with their brand of comic absurdity, this boxset is a great way to do it. The box set contains every episode, 2 live discs, plenty of extras and looks and sounds great.
"And now for something completely diffrent..."
1-5 of 126 | NEXT PAGE OF REVIEWS >>
| Editorial Review |
New for 2005, The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset packs together the original 14-DVD megaset with the two-disc Monty Python Live in space-saving Thinpaks. While more cautious fans may want to pick and choose among the previously released individual volumes of Monty Python for their collection, true Pythonites will want to own this definitive megaset that contains all 45 episodes (in chronological order) of Monty Python's Flying Circus. This "persistently silly" collection encompasses three-and-a-half seasons of dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, loonies, upper class twits, and spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, and spam. Click past the occasional clunker and go directly to such signature sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Spanish Inquisition, the Fish-Slapping Dance, the Dead Parrot Sketch, the Lumberjack Song, the Cheese Shop, the Argument Clinic, and Nudge, Nudge. Taken as a whole, one marvels at how Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam thoroughly subverted television convention with "something completely different," like sketches with no punch lines ("Your average TV viewer isn't going to understand this"). A warning to the uninitiated: there is much "material that some may find offensive, but which is really smashing." Violations of something called the "Strange Sketch Act" are the least of the troupe's offenses, as witness the Oscar Wilde Sketch, the Dirty Vicar Sketch, and the Most Awful Family in Britain Sketch, all of which achieve "the really gross awfulness" all Python fans are looking for. Say no more.
Monty Python TV shows, movies, records, and books are a time capsule of their anarchic lunacy. But more precious is an audience with Python, and as close as we can get is Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the long-sought-after 1982 concert film in which the Fab Six perform their greatest hits before a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Robert Klein moderates Live at Aspen, the irreverent 1998 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival tribute that reunited John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones onstage for the first time in 18 years on the occasion of the troupe's 30th anniversary. Highlights include a shockingly funny moment involving Graham Chapman's ashes, and a joyous "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" sing-along. Less essential is 1989's clip show Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Python, which also does not include "The Oscar Wilde Sketch," "Cheese Shop," "Nudge-Nudge," and many other signature sketches. --Donald Liebenson
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